Process and apparatus for refrigeration



Dec. 20, 1932. w. A. FosBERRY 1,891,305

PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR REFRIGERATION Filed Jan. 7. 1930 2 sheets-Sgen1 W l, IIIIIH t mil MI! mmllllill l ll H "Il W In/tunica;

N W dfsamfq dumm* Dec. 20, 1932. w. A. FosBERRY' PROCESS AND vAPPARATUSFOR REFRIGERATION Filed Jan. '7. 1930 mn,... ,Yx

2 Sheets-Sheet Patented Dec. 20, 1932 UNITED s'rafresv PATENT oFFlcE`ITILLIAM A. FOSBEBRLKQF GLOUCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS Y rRocEss ANDAPPARATUS ron REFRIGERATION .i application mea January-17, 1930. serialNo. 419,081.

A 1` has been employed. While the art has had considerable success withsuch refrigerati-ngV machines for freezing fish, either Whole, loose-cutfor table use, or put up in packages, 1 these machines have.nevertheless possessed V `certaininherent defects which it is thepurpose of this invention to overcome.

Principal among these defects is the fact that refrigerating devices ofthis character are vof highly complicated design possessing 2c a greatmultiplicity of moving parts, Which must be replaced from time to time.It Will also be readily seen that moving parts must be oiled or greasedand where oil or grease y is used there is a possibility of its comin incontact with the product to be frozen. e-

gardless of the care taken, this naturally would result in an unsanitarycondition of the frozen article. In certain classes of these machines,it is customary to employ sprays whereby the cooling agent may come inheat exchange relationship with the article to be frozen. Such instancesWhere this practice is employed, the uarticle to be frozen is notentirely enclosed,

Y and despite a great-amount of care in usingv the sprays it veryfrequently happens that the cooling agent comes in dir-ect' contact withthe perishable substance. Other disadvantages in manyjrefrigerat- 40 ingmachines of this type arise in the fact that the cooling age-nt is notcirculated enf tirely around the product to be frozen. In instancesWhere ,this does occur, the perishable substances are placed incontainers and the containers immersed ina chamber containing thecooling agent. expedient overcomes this disadvantage, it neverthelessgives rise to another. namely,

that additional mechanism for Vlifting mustY 59 be provided upon themachine in order that While such an the containers may be placed in andWith.- drawn. from the'cooling compartment. Another defect ofrefrigerating,apparatus4 of this sort results intheir bulk and the greatamount of space which they occupy. Considering the small quantity of theperishable substancel Which maybe frozen in these machines, their greatsize will at once be appre. ciated as excessive.

`Vherethe cooling agent is circulated 60" around the containers it isusually allowed to flow from the top of the container to the loottom,with the vresult that When it reaches the bottom of the containeritstemperature has been raised to such a `degree that a stream of 65.` coldfreezing vagent must be injected. intothe bottom of the cooling chamberin order that the substances in the bottom of the container Will befrozen to the 'same degree as that lWhich is locatedatthe top.` lIn someof `these 7071.

machines the ends are open to .room temperature. Thisresults in heatabsorption'from the room in Whichl the machine is located, andconsequently a great increase in the expense of'operation.k l j y Themajor objectof .this invention is the provision of a, process i andapparatus `foi` freezing perishable substances which lacks v theLinherent disadvantages of refrigerating apparatus and processes employedin present, practice. j Y

An equally important object of the invention is the. provision of aproc-ess for freezing perishable` substances wherein the substances arevplaced Within a flue and acooling agent is circulated entirely aroundthe iue.

Another object of the invention is the provisionv of a process forfreezing perishable substances Which comprises the steps of rapidlylowering the temperature ofthe substances by circulating a cooling agentthrough a plurality of cooling zones and arounda` plurality of fluespositioned therein, the perishable substances being contained Within thefines. A i

Yet another object ofthe invention is the provision of `va novelrefrigerating cabinet having a plurality of ilues positioned therein,these fiues being positioned in a plurality of conduits and means forlcirculating a cooling agent through any or all of the conduits andaround the lues in such conduits.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a refrigeratingcabinet having horizontal and vertical rows of iues extendingtherethrough, the horizontal flues rows being .separated from each otherby means of a partition forming a conduit, and means for circulating acooling medium through the conduits and around the flues.

Yet a further object of the invention is the devising of a shut-offmeans to be employed in conjunction with a refrigeratingcabinet wherebyany portion of the cabinet maybe closed down without causing theoperation of the entire machine to be arrested.

Still a further object of the invention is the provision of a novelmovable rack having trays thereon adapted to be placed with arefrigerating machine. v

With these and vother objects inrview, which kmay be incident to myimprovements, the invention consists in the parts and combinations to behereinafter set forth and claimed, with the understanding that theseveral necessary elements comprising my invention may bev varied inconstruction, proportions and arrangement without departing from thespirit and scope of the appended claims.

of a process and apparatus for freezing perishable substances. Onemethod of practically eifecting the concept of the invention is theprovision of' a refrigerating cabinet'provided with a plurality ofconduitsl having flues, adapted to contain the perishable substance,positioned therein, and means for circulating a cooling agent throughany of these conduits and entirely around each of the flues. Theinvention further comprehends the provision of a novelV movable loadingrack employed in placing the perishablesubstances within the cabinet.`

-In order to make my invention more clearly Figure 3 is a sectional sideelevation along the line 3-'3 of Figure 2. f

Figure 4 is a horizontal sectional view A Figure 5 is apictorialrepresentation of the machine and shows the movable loadingrack The inventionY comprehends the provision Y or anyother outlinedesired. along the line 4-4 of Figure 2.

in position for placing a substance within the flues of the cabinet.

Figure 6 is a sectional elevation of the movable loading rack.

Figure 7 is a pictorial representation showing the manner in which thetrays of two loading racks may be connected together.

Throughout the drawings similarv reference numerals refer to like parts.There is shown inv Figure 1 a refrigerating cabinet generally designatedby the numeral 1, which is mounted upon a floor or other suitablesupport 2. The cabinet 1 is provided with a top wall 3, side walls 4,bottom walls 5, and end walls 6. As it will be observed from aninspection of Figure 4 the ends of the cabinet are provided withsuitable doors .7, which are l supported upon the usual hinges 8 securedto the ends of the cabinet. Each door is provided with a conventionallatch 9.

lVliile double doors have been shown, it is to be understood thatif'desired asingle door may be used in their place without departingfrom the spirit ofthe invention.

Positioned within the cabinet so as to be in spaced apart relationshipwith the outer wall is an inner wall 10 which provides an inner cabinetork compartment. The inner wall 10 forms a space 11 between its outerperipherj7 i tions 18 which divide the space enclosed by the inner wallinto conduits 14. These conduits extend downwardly for a considerable`:distance from the top of the cabinet, and it may be seen that with theexception of the top and the bottom lconduitthe partitions 13 form thetop and bottom of adjacent conduits.

Y The partitions 13, asmay be observed in Fig- Arespect to the top,bottom and sides of each conduit. While the flues have been shown ashaving a rectilinear outline, it is to bev understood any othergeometrical .shape may` be given to them without departing from thespirit of the invention. Such shapes would include cylindrical outlines.square outlines,

The substances or products to be frozen are adapted to be placedwithinthe flues 15 and in order to freeze them a cooling agent is cirlaoUthrough the cooling coil 19.

cnlated through each of the conduits. For

cooling coil 19 which is connected at one end, by means ot pipe 20, to apressure reducing valve Q1 ot retrigerating unit Q2. The other end ofthe cooling coil is connected by the return pipe Q3 te the compressor ofthe rel'rigerating unit. Vhile the refrigerating unit has been shown asmountedbelow the floor level and adjacent to the tank 16, it is to beunderstood that it may be located in any other position if desired? 1tshould also be understood that they relrigen ating unit shown is merelyof a conventional type and any other suitable machine .may be employed.

ing the freezing agent.

While the tank or Well 16 has been shoivn as an integral part of aretrigerating cabine"` it Willbe appreciated that such a tank ma,

be separately constructed if desired. In Vsuch an event the bottom otthe cabinet would be on the same level as the floor or support. Likewiseit is to beunderstood that the tank 16 could, if desired, be positionedabove or on top of the retrigerating cabinet. Y

The purpose of the tank .i6 will now bel appreciated. Adapted to becontained therein is a suitable liquid cooling agent 2li Which is cooledby means oi" the refrigerant passing Various brines may be used for thecooling medium it desired. For the purpose et circulating this coolingagent through the conduits Vl/l, a

pump Q5.. which maybe ot centrifugal type or any other type desired, isprovided. The

pump 25 is connected to an intake pipe 26 which extends into therefrigerant tank 1S substantially to the bottom thereof. By

means of an electric motor 25, or other suit-V 51 able mechanism,thepump 1s driven so as to force the cooling agent 24 through the inletpipe Q6 and out through the discharge side of the pump into an intakeheader 27. Connected to the intake header by means ot suitfable cut-offvalves 28 are a plurality of discharge pipes 29. Each discharge pipeei;- tends through the inner and outer cabinets and into a conduit- 14..Thus it will be vapreciated that the coolino avent mav beV 80 drawnfrom the cooling tank 16 and forcei into the conduits.

In order that the cooling agent may be continuously circulated throughthe conduits, an outlet header 30 is in direct communica- .tion withlthe coolingtank. Connected to the n Any suitable refrigerant may be 25employed in the retrigerating unit tor coolheader 30throughsuitableshut-otf valves 3l,

are receiving pipes 32 Which extend through f the inner and outercompartment .and-into each conduit.

1t should be noted that each .discharge pipe 29 trom-the intake headeris positioned at the bottom et each conduit, While the outlet duit.Moreover, as may be observed in Figure 4 the inlet and outlet headersare at oppipe 32 is positioned at the top of each conposite ends vot thecabinet. By positioning the headers andthey pipes connecting them withthe conduits as described, it Will be apa preciated that the coolingagent in each conduit Willbe circulated around each flue are*Y `rangedtherein.

By the mechanism ust described., it Will be understood that the coolingagent may be'v continuously circulated ,from the tank 16 through theVinlet pipe 26 to the pump from the discharge side of the pump to the'inlet header 27, and 'thence to the various conduits.

VFrom each'V conduit the liquid may be `Withdrawn therefrom, through thedischarge. pipes 32 and discharge header 80 and re turned to the tank16, and thence after cooling may be recycled. It Will also beappreciated that any conduit or any number of conduits may be cut oft,by the suitable actuation of the inlet Aand outlet valves, from theremainder oi the machine which maybe continuously operated.

By positioning the fluos in spaced apart relationship with respect toveach other and to the Walls et their conduit-s, it Will be Wellunderstood that the cooling agent Will beA `circulated entirely aroundeach flue.` -More' over, by the use et' the inlet header, the'coolzingagent reaching each conduit Will be substantially at the sainetemperature. Thus it will be unnecessary to lnjectan additional amountot the cooled freezing medium into the bottom conduit sons to maintainthis conduit at the same temperature as the other conduits. Eachconduit, it Will be Well seen, is substantially at. the sametemperatureas the otl er conduits, and by circulating the cooling agentthrough the conduits at a sulticicutly high velocity, the temperaturechange between the refrigerant entering each conduit and thatdischarging will be evenly spree. d or distributed throughout the Widththereof.

ln order to prevent absorption of heat by intake and the outlet headersand the pump, theseparts are enclosed Within a suitable casing termed bythe double Wall ll and thev cabinet l. The double Wall Lil is packedWith'heat insulating material similar tothe material l2. Y

1For placing .tish orother perishable sub-v stances Within the iiues torfreezing, l have v provided a novel movable loader, rack or carriagegenerally designated by the numeral The rack is mounted upon wheels 34and is provided with'a Vbottom member or base to the ends of which aresecured four uprights 36. These uprights have formed thereon, directlyopposite to each other, slots orvguideways 37 which'extend the fulllength of the carriage, as may be seen at Figure 5. Each pair ofguideways is adapted to have a tray 38 lslidably mounted therein, andupon these trays the substances or products to be frozen are placed. Itshould be noted that each end of each tray 38 is provided with anextended eye 39, as shown in Figure. Here two trays are disclosedconnected to each other by means of' a coupling member 40.

VThe coupling member Li() may be detachable from each eye, or ifdesired, each tray may have acoupling member secured to one of its eyes.Y

The manner of loading the cabinet will now be at once apparent, from aninspection of Figure 5. The movable tray'raclr or loader, with thematerials t0 be frozen placed upon the trays mounted therein, ispositioned so that its end is directly opposite and adja# cent to avertical row of ues, the doors of the cabinet having first been opened.It should be noted that each of the guides 37 are at 'the same elevationas each flue. Hence by inerely pushing upon the ends of the trays most idistant from the cabinet, they may, with the products contained thereon,be` slid into the flues.

By the use of the coupling members 40,

a tray within the cabinet may be connected to a tray upon a loaderpositioned at either endthereof. Thus it may be seen that uponwithdrawing a tray of frozen products from the end of the cabinetopposite to the loader, the tray thereon connected to the former will 'ibe pulled into a freezing flue, and after this it may be uncoupled fromthe tray carrying the'frozen substances. If an empty tray carriage orloader is positioned at the rear of the Y cabinet the trays containingthe frozen prod- Y ucts may be 'placed thereon and wheeled to anyvpointldesired, or these trays may be withdrawn and moved in any other manner.It

is evident that upon the withdrawal of the trays having the frozenmaterial, since they fare connected to the trays carrying the unfrozenmaterial, these latter will be pulled within the cabinet. After this newloading operation the cabinet doors at both the front 'and rear end maybe closed, and the newV 1 material or products may be frozen. Moreover,it will be appreciated that the loading operation may be effected fromeither end of the cabinet.

The trays may be pulled out of the cabine.r either manually or bysuitable power actuated mechanism. In the latter case, a suitableupright couldV be mounted upon a sliding carl riage so as toinove in ahorizontal line parallel to the rear of the cabinet. On the uprightwould be mounted a pulley having means for out of the cabinet. Anysuitable actuating 1 mechanism for thedrum such as an electric` motorcould be employed. Likewise a suitable guide sheave could be placedadjacent to the drum and between it and the slidable upright. By formingthe upright so that it Y may be moved, suitable positioning of it op-`posite the-vertical rows of the flues is allowed, while by providing thevertical movable pulit opposite the horizontal flues is permitted. Ifdesired, removable wear rods may be placed upon the bottom of each iueso that each tray restsv on the. rods instead of on the iue bottom, thuspreventing wearon the lat- .80T ley upon an upright, a suitablepositioning of ter. Such rods are to be .secured by suitable vdetachable fastenings and could bereadily removed. They would extendlongitudinally of the flue for its full length.

When the iish are to be preserved they may be either sliced and put upin packages, they may be loose-cut for the table, or whole fish may befrozen. In either event, the fish are placed upon each freezing tray sothat when a tray carrying the fish is inserted within a flue,substantially all of the flue volume will be filled. By loading theflues in this manner, substantially all the air contained within theflue will be expelled and there will be very little air left between thefish and the flue walls.

Hence it may be realized there will be substantially no air left withinthe flues that will act as a heat `insulator and this will aid inVshortening theV freezing time. Thus it may be seen that'the fish orother perishable substance is so placed within the flues as to be inheat exchange relationship with the walls thereof. Such packing orkloading of the iues considerably shortens the freezing time.

The front doors of the cabinet are opened 'and the fish or otherperishable substances employed in the process just describedisstationary and moreover has no moving parts, with the exception of therefrigerating unit which is essential to all refrigerating devices.Moreover, by nesting the freezing lues, a compactness is given to thecabinet and at the same time an exceedingly large freezing capacity isprovided. Because of its simplicity,

it real-ized. that. the upkeep 0f. the e11- vtire device! is at aminimum and. Should, for any wesen. it be found desirable t0 Operate9111i' a; par# 0f themahne, this may be a@- compli ed, by merely closingthe valves of the inletppes leading te that-Part Hence in Ceses, Ql'ufllil'` Small section of the inachine may be shut olfV withoutinterfering withthe continuous operation of the remainder, Since thereare no moving parts within the cabinet itself, unsanitary conditionsarising due to, grease and oil' employed for lubricating these partswill be entirely eliminated. Moreover, since the products to betregtedare entirely enclosed by the freezing fiues there is no likelihood 'ofthe cooling medium becoming mixed with them.

The efficiency of the machine will be appreciated when it is consideredthat the fluesare of relatively small cross section, and

moreover the cooling agent passes entirely around each one of them andis in continuous circulation at any suitable velocity. By maintainingthe cooling agent injected into each conduit at a temperature of from'l40 F. to 500 F. a rapid heat exchange between the cooling agent and theflues will be maintained and the freezing time con-` siderably reduced.By this method, that is, passing the cooling agent around separate luesof relatively small cross section, the freezing time is reduced tosubstantially 50% of that consumed in devices employed in presentpractice. Since the cabinet is entirely closed during freezing, there isno heat loss due to employing a partially closed cabinet or housingwhich is open to the atmos` phere.

Although the apparatus disclosed has been described and shown asemploying a refrigerating unit with means of circulating a refrigerantthrough coils in a cooling tank in order that a suitable cooling mediumplaced therein may be cooled, it will be well understood that other`modes of freezing perish-" able substances within fthe ues may beemployed if desired. As an example of this the lues may be cooled by thedirect expansion of the refrigerant within the conduits and the tank 16and the pump 25 could be done away with. This arrangement would furtherreduce the space necessary ito house the apparatus. It will also beappreciated that if desired, cooling coils may be placedf around theflues or as just described the relower the temperature within eachsubstantially the same degree.

while the process and apparatus is described as being applicable for thepreserving of fish, it is to be understood that the invention may beapplied to other forms of perishable substances Without departing fromthe spirit or V,the scope or" the appended claims.

From the foregoing description it will be appreciated that l haveprovided a process for freezing perishable substances, and appa-- i'atusfor performing the same'. Such appay-rat us,it will be observed allowsthe product to be frozen in a clean, dry and Ysanitary condition.Moreover, by the use of the cabinet withseparate iiues'nested` j thereinthe capacity for a freezing operation vis greatly increased, While thetime of ,freezing'is materially reduced. `It will also be apparent thatl have provided an economical process for freezing perishablesubstances,4v and a simple apparatus for carrying it out. Y

While l have shown and described the preferred embodiment of myinvention, l wish it to be understood that l do not confine myself tothe precise details of construction herein set forth,by way ofillustration, as it is apparent that many changes and variations may bemade therein, by those skilled in the art, Without departing from thespirit of the invention, or exceeding the scope `of the "appendedclaims.

lclaim: Y

- l. A refiig'erating cabinet having a .plu-

"rality of separate conduitsv formed therein, a

plurality of flues positioned VWithin said conduits, and means forclosing any number of` said conduits so as to circulate a cooling agentthrough the remainder of said conduits.

2. A refrigerating cabinet having a pluralof conduits formed therein, aplurality of iiuespositioned within each of said conduits,

an intake and outlet header having'separate connections with' each ofsaid conduits, and means for circulating a cooling agent through saidintake header into'each of said conduits,

and into said outlet header so as to rapidly lower the temperature of asubstance placed within said lues. i

3. refrigerating cabinet havinga plurality of conduits positionedtherein, a plurality of flues positioned within cach of said conduits, atank containing a freezing agent,

means for cooling said 'freezingagena and means for circulating saidcooled freezing agent through each of said conduits so .as to conduit to4. ln'combination with a refrigerating cabinet having front and rearopenings, and a plurality ofvertically and horizontally disposed rows offreezing flues positioned therein, each of said flues having a trayslidably supported therein, said trays adapted to carry substances to befrozen, a movable loader therefor,y said loader comprisingV a base,

wheels mounted thereon, pairs of uprightsj positioned at the ends ofsaid base, a plurality of guidewaysrpositioned parallel to thelongitudinal axis of the base, and secured to said standards, each pairof guidewaysbeing positioned upon the uprights at an `elevationcorresponding to the level of a Hue in a vertical row, a plurality oftrays, each of said trays being slidably mounted within said guidewaysand adapted to carry the substances to be frozen, and means forconnecting each tray ofunfrozen substances with a tray Within thecabinet so that upon the withdrawal of the tray carrying the frozensubstances, a tray of unfrozen substances will be positioned within aflue. l

l5. A retrigerating device comprising a cabinet having a plurality ofconduits closed at both ends positioned therein, a plurality of fineswithin each of said conduits positioned so as to allow a cooling agentcirculated through each conduit to contact with the en- Y tire surfaceof each flue therein, means at one side of-an end ofeach conduit foradmitting a cooling agent from a refrigerating device, other meanspositioned diagonally opposite to the admitting means at the other endof each conduit 4for allowing the return of the cooling agent to therefrigerating device, and

still other means for selectively cooling the` i flues of any desirednumber of conduits.

6. A refrigerating device comprising acabinet having a plurality ofconduits closed at both ends positioned therein, a plurality of lueswithin each of said conduits positioned in spaced apart relationship toeach other and sbs and means for circulating ay cooling 'agent throughsaid intake header into each of said conduits, and into saidoutletheader so las to rapidly lower the temperatureV of'a substance placedWithin said fines. f

In testimony whereof I afiir my signatlire,-

WILLIAM A. rosBERRY.

the walls of each conduit, each of said ues being supported at its endsby the end of its conduit, an intake and outlet header having separate`connections with each of saidv K conduits, the inlet connections fromthe inlet header communicating with the ends of said Y I conduits, theoutlet connections to the outlet; header communicating with theoppositeends A of said conduits, each inlet connection being. at one side ofeach conduit and each outlet being at the opposite side of each conduitat the opposite end and positioned above the inlet connection, and meansfor circulating a cooling agent through said intake header to each ofsaid conduits and into said outlet' header so as to rapidly lower thetemperature of a substance placed within said flues. c

7. A refrigerating device comprising a cabinet, a plurality of conduitsclosed at each end positioned within said cabinet in vertically arrangedrows, a plurality of flues eX- tending through each of said conduitsfrom end to end of the cabinet, a closure at each end of the cabinet forclosing the ends of said flues, and means associated with the cabinetfor circulating a cooling agent through any desired number of saidconduits and around` the entire surface area of each of thefluesvtherein.

8. A refrigerating device comprising a ist

